High Voltage Festival 2011 - Victoria Park, London - 23rd and 24th July 2011 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Written by Jon Stickler
London's High Voltage Festival basked in glorious sunshine for the second year running last weekend, July 23rd and July 24th. Victoria Park once again hosting a memorable weekend that was crammed with stellar performances from some of the planets biggest rock acts.
On approaching East London's Victoria Park, within earshot of the rumbling sound-systems, I'm interested to see if High Voltage Festival still maintains the chllled-out, relaxed atmosphere that so many visitors praised at last year's event. This being the second High Voltage Festival, its plain to see that the success of last year has certainly been talked about as a much bigger crowd seems to have descended onto the site.
Made by Rock fans for Rock fans, High Voltage kicked-off the weekend with upcoming, certainly a band to look out for, Rival Sons. Hailing from California, the four-piece perform in glorious sunshine whilst their soul-laden, swaggering brand of rock n roll gets the early arrivals up and hip-shaking.
After hearing Liverpudlian rockers Anathema from a distance, following their Prog Stage show word-of-mouth around the festival's Real Ale tent is that the sound temporarily jilted the performance, however, their dedicating of 'Dreaming Light' to the Norway tragedies seems to be a touching highlight.
News of the death of Amy Winehouse spreads across the festival, however, scoping out a good vantage point for Thin Lizzy's Main Stage performance is priority for me as I try to get as close to the barrier as possible. Its disappointing that once again, following disruptions to Queensryche's earlier performance, the sound-systems are still not firing on all cylinders and the set is flawed slightly by the lack of volume. Think that will stop fans' enjoyment though? No chance! Phil Lynott's ghost lives on in Ricky Warwick's voice as he leads a set packed full of Lizzy classics, along with a guest appearance from Hanoi Rocks frontman Michael Monroe, a wild crowd sing-a-long to all the favourites including set highlight 'Whiskey In The Jar'.
The former Guns N Roses guitarist turned solo star, Slash, hits the Main Stage at roughly 7:00pm with a set that sees the majority of festival-goers claim as one of the highlights of the weekend. Playing the show on his birthday, Slash, accompanied by the sensational Rock vocalist that is Myles Kennedy, riffs through a mixture of Guns N Roses classics as well as material from his self-titled, debut solo offering. We're also treated to a rendition of the snarling Snakepit track 'Meanbone'! The legendary guitarist, complete with ever-present Top-Hat and Les Paul guitar epitomises cool, displaying his legendary vertical guitar-playing style and leading possibly the biggest sing-a-long of the weekend to 'Sweet Child O' Mine'.
Slash and the gang do a stellar job of warming up the crowd for tonight's headline set. A headline set by none other than metal gods Judas Priest. Appearing on stage from behind a giant 'Epitaph' curtain shielding what was a truly epic stage set-up, Judas Priest rock out a stunning headline show to a huge crowd (main pic). This may be their farewell 'Epitaph' tour but Priest show no signs of slowing the pace as they power through 'Heading Out To The Highway', 'Starbreaker' and new song 'Prophecy'. Oozing stage presence, Rob Halford can still scream the high notes as he stalks the stage right to left, left to right. Totally commanding the crowd, Halford leads everyone into favourites such as ‘Breaking The Law’ and ‘You Got Another Thing Comin’. With all guns blazing and amps cranked to eleven, the band give fans one last chance to witness the ultimate metal experience.
As any festival-goer will tell you, Sunday mornings are usually a little fuzzy. This one was no different. As the pounding headaches fade, Mostly Autumn's Prog Stage performance provides the perfect sunny afternoon chill-out moment before newly reunited and totally underrated Thunder lay down their air-punching Rock hits such as 'Dirty Love', 'Love Walked In' and the brilliant cover of ‘Gimme Some Lovin’. The crowd collectively foot-tappin' and singing along to every word. Hangover? What hangover!
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed once again, kinda, I get closer to the Main Stage for supergroup Black Country Communion. Having seen these guys showcase their self-titled debut album in Wolverhampton last December, I knew the set wasn’t going to disappoint. Now, with that all-important second album under their arms, the epic Black Country Communion consist of Glenn “The Voice of Rock” Hughes (small pic), one of the greatest blues guitarists of his generation Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham, son of legendary Led Zepp drummer John Bonham, and leading rock keyboardist Derek Shirinian. BCC are still pretty limited with their catalogue of songs, however, this doesn’t stop them delivering a storming set made up of material from their debut album and follow-up '2'. The crowd don’t get involved as much as I thought they should but all four of the guys are on top form. In addition, word has it that Joe Bonamassa is to appear onstage with Jetho Tull later!
I’m not a huge fan of flute playing, however, whether you love or hate Prog Stage headliners Jethro Tull, you cant argue that their fantasy, folky-blues are capable of enchanting huge crowds. For those opting for an alternative to Metal Stage headline act Neorosis and Main Stage bill-toppers Dream Theatre, Jethro Tull are professionals at delivering calming compositions that nearly send me to sleep at one point. I'll be honest, Tull are not my thing, however, for an audience who are slowly losing the desire to stay up all hours, preferring a comfy bed and a cup of tea to a rowdy campsite and chemical bog, they are superb and are worthy of the huge applause they receive following their show. I'm glad I've finally seen them live and it was great to see Joe Bonamassa join them on stage.
Closing the weekend over on the Main Stage are Prog-rock titans Dream Theatre. An epic set sees the band showcase songs from their upcoming album 'A Dramatic Turn Of Events', all of which seem to be well-received by fans. Each giving a masterclass in all of the instruments they play, Dream Theatre's singing frontman James Labrie is just simply flawless too. They wrap up the weekend with an indulgent set that seems to go on for days.
Thanks High Voltage for another year of sterling Rock, Prog and Metal performances, please try and sort out your sound-systems for next year though! Another great festival and if you feel the likes of Rock festivals such as Download and Sonisphere are a little too hardcore for you, be sure to check out London's High Voltage Festival next year.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed once again, kinda, I get closer to the Main Stage for supergroup Black Country Communion. Having seen these guys showcase their self-titled debut album in Wolverhampton last December, I knew the set wasn’t going to disappoint. Now, with that all-important second album under their arms, the epic Black Country Communion consist of Glenn “The Voice of Rock” Hughes (small pic), one of the greatest blues guitarists of his generation Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham, son of legendary Led Zepp drummer John Bonham, and leading rock keyboardist Derek Shirinian. BCC are still pretty limited with their catalogue of songs, however, this doesn’t stop them delivering a storming set made up of material from their debut album and follow-up '2'. The crowd don’t get involved as much as I thought they should but all four of the guys are on top form. In addition, word has it that Joe Bonamassa is to appear onstage with Jetho Tull later!
